1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for cutting a work object and more particularly to such an apparatus which performs a cutting operation on a work object employing high pressure fluid, the apparatus having particular utility when utilized to pit fruit, such as olives, the apparatus operable to perform the pitting operation in a highly efficient fashion.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art is replete with numerous examples of prior art fruit processing devices which are adapted to treat or otherwise manipulate fruit or other food products in a particular fashion to achieve a desired end product. In the processing of olives, and more particularly in the removal of the pits from a source of unpitted olives by machine, the prior art devices have generally been operable individually to capture an olive in a predetermined attitude and position while a punch enters from one end of the olive and a cutting die enters from the other end. It should be understood that the punch is forced longitudinally through the olive thereby engaging the olive pit while the cutting die is reciprocated forwardly approximately along the same axis. During this operation, the olive pit is forced out through the end of the olive by the punch and into a bore formed in the cutting die. The punch and the cutting die are retracted and the pit and core are disposed of thereafter.
While the prior art devices and slight variations thereof have operated with varying degrees of success, they have been unsatisfactory in several respects. For example, the prior art devices have sometimes failed when pits have adhered to the punch. This problem, and assembly utilized in an attempt to correct same is set forth in U.S. Letters Patent to Kagley et al. No. 2,821,223, granted on Jan. 28, 1958, entitled, "Pit Dislodgment Jets For Fruit Pitting Machine."
Still another deficiency with the prior art devices results from characteristics inherent in their design inasmuch as the core and the associated pit may, from time to time, become mixed with the pitted fruit or alternatively, the pitting operation may fail and the pit is returned to the olive. In both instances the end product is undesirable in that it may be unsightly in one instance or alternatively presents a potential source of liability for the processor thereof. To address this problem, processors of olives have typically implemented various quality control measures. However, these additional measures are frequently time consuming, and often labor intensive, thus causing the final end product to be somewhat more costly for the end consumer.
Therefore, it has long been known that it would be desirable to have a machine which performs a cutting operation on a work object, the apparatus having particular utility in the pitting of fruit, such as olives, with increased speed, and accuracy, the apparatus operable substantially to reduce the time and labor required to produce a predetermined volume of pitted fruit with the attendant economic savings realized from such reductions.